My Comments About Jane Doe, Cornell, and the Thin Line Between "Fine" and Forever Changed

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Greetings from Chaton's World in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania! In my world, my days often start with laundry, early-morning emails, and making my kids a hot breakfast. They often end with late-night homework checks, making Instagram reels, and appearing on Celebrity Court of Public Opinion. Somewhere in between, I’m navigating boardrooms, working towards deadlines, and immersed in the good, bad, and ugly chaos of motherhood and household management. As a working mom of three and a professional carving out space in corporate environments, I share my journey of balancing leadership with loving my family, and I sprinkle it with self-care tips. Here, you’ll find honest reflections, hard-earned lessons, and practical strategies for creating an authentic life that you enjoy. If you’re trying to do it all without losing yourself in the process, you have found your sister in the struggle! Continue reading to discover some thoughts, hacks, and/or lessons that I have learned from navigating...
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Working Moms Celebrate When You Get it Right

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Preschool student ready to learn

Every working mom I know who has young child with feeling guilty. Our mind has thoughts constantly raging. Examples of them are:

Some Reasons Working Moms Feel Guilty

  1. Food Guilt: Should I feed my kids Eggo Waffles simply because that makes my life easy in the morning? I think I heard that Eggos have hydrogenated something or other in them, which everyone knows is akin to crack. And what about the syrup they put on top. That’s just like pouring pixie sticks into their veins…
  2. Childcare Guilt: I know that I found reliable, honorable people to care for my kids during the day, but is this type of outsourcing what God had in mind when He invented mothers? (It’s OK to reference God, right since he’s the architect of all of this madness.)  I mean, my fourth cousin once removed actually gave birth to her fifth child without drugs while making breakfast for her other four and simply scooped the baby up and poured the orange juice for everyone while cutting her own umbilical cord and did I mention she home schools and her oldest was just admitted to Harvard on full scholarship???
  3. Television Guilt: DAMN IT!!! I let my kids watch “Super Why” and “Sesame Street” yesterday because I needed to bathe, go to the bathroom and cook dinner. They also watched the commercials. Does the American Pediatric Association permit 2 hours of screen time with commercials or should we count the commercials? Does it matter that the shows were educational? Although I am not too sure that the songs Big Bird sang taught the kids anything even though they were entertained. Goodness gracious, why did they every event television is moms can’t use it as a babysitter? I think I’m going straight to hell for even thinking that. Maybe that God referenced in #2 is too busy ruling the world to have picked up on that thought???
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I could write ten (x 10) more reasons why I, and my working mom sisters, feel guilty and they would all be true. And sometimes, like I'll share in a separate post, sometimes we feel guilty because we drop the ball. But other times, we get it exactly right.


Sometimes Working Moms Get it Right

We have utilized a variety of childcare options, FT nanny, PT nanny, and daycare. One of the best things I ever did was to put our middle son on the waiting list for a spot at a coveted program. This program is so coveted that parents place their kids on the list in utero or even preconception. In our case, I placed our son on the list while I was pregnant. And, I forgot all about it. Amazingly, the week our last nanny gave notice, the director of the program emailed me and asked, "Would you like your baby to be in our program? We noticed that he/she is on our waiting list." Well, I had totally forgotten that he was on the list, but since we had no other childcare option, I immediately accepted the place. 

I have never regretted it one--not in spite of the cost and not in spite of the fact that dropping him off requires the coordination of an Olympic ice skater. As the above photos illustrate, he is engaged in the program, focused, and I can attest it is working! He is so excited about learning that he asks to do work on days that he doesn't have school. A few things have happened lately that have made me question whether I am making any progress at all on this motherhood journey. However, these photos that I saw today from my son's school made me realize that I have at least done one thing right. And at least for a moment, that made me smile.

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